folktale definition of folktale in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

folktale, general term for any of numerous varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to primitive and complex societies alike. Even the forms folktales take are demonstrably similar from culture to culture, and comparative studies of themes and narrative techniques have been successful in showing these relationships. Among the foremost folklorists of the 19th cent. were Oskar Dähnhardt in Germany, S. O. Addy in England, Paul Sébillot in France, and Y. M. Sokolov in Russia. Major 20th-century scholars in the field include Franz Boas, Richard Chase, Marie Campbell, and Stith Thompson. Folklorists make distinctions among the categories of folktales. Legends and traditions are narratives of an explanatory nature concerning creation and tribal beginnings, supernatural beings, and quasi-historical figures (e.g., King Arthur, Lady Godiva). These stories are related as fact and concern a specific time and place. Fairy tales are entirely fictional and often begin with such formulas as "Once upon a time …" and "In a certain country there lived … ." Popular examples recount the supernatural adventures and mishaps of youngest daughters, transformed princes, mermaids mermaid, in folklore, sea-dwelling creature commonly represented as having the head and body of a woman and a fishtail instead of legs. Belief in mermaids, and in their counterpart, mermen, has existed since earliest times.
..... Click the link for more information. , and wood fairies and elves (e.g., Cinderella Cinderella, heroine of one of the most famous folktales in the world. She is rescued from a life of drudgery by her fairy godmother and eventually marries a handsome prince.
..... Click the link for more information. , Rumplestiltskin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel). Animal tales abound in every culture; most of them are clearly anthropomorphic, the animals assuming human personalities. Such tales are classified according to three subdivisions: the etiological tale, or tale concerning origins (e.g., Great Hare of the Native North Americans); the fable pointing to a moral (Aesop's fables); and the beast epic (e.g., Reynard the Fox Reynard the Fox (rĕ`nərd, rā`närd)
..... Click the link for more information. ; see bestiary bestiary (bĕs`chēĕr'ē), a type of medieval book that was widely popular, particularly from the 12th to 14th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Myths, which are more difficult to define satisfactorily, treat happenings of a long-ago time; they generally concern the adventures of gods, giants giant, in mythology, manlike being of great size and strength. The giant has been the symbol for the expression of certain recurring beliefs in the mythologies of all races.
..... Click the link for more information. , heroes hero, in Greek religion, famous person, who after his death, was worshiped as quasi-divine. The heroes might be actual great men and women, real or imaginary ancestors, or "faded" gods and goddesses (i.e.
..... Click the link for more information. , nymphs nymph (nĭmf), in Greek mythology, female divinity associated with various natural objects.
..... Click the link for more information. , satyrs satyr (sā`tər, săt`ər), in Greek mythology, part bestial, part human creature of the forests and mountains.
..... Click the link for more information. , and villains, as well as etiological themes. See also mythology mythology [Greek,=the telling of stories], the entire body of myths in a given tradition, and the study of myths. Students of anthropology, folklore, and religion study myths in different ways, distinguishing them from various other forms of popular, often orally
..... Click the link for more information. ; monsters and imaginary beasts in folklore monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of different existing animals and of human beings and animals.
..... Click the link for more information. ; elf elf, in Germanic mythology, a type of fairy. Usually represented as tiny people, elves are said to dwell in forests, in the sea, and in the air. Although they can be friendly to man, they are more frequently vengeful and mischievous.
..... Click the link for more information. ; fairy fairy, in folklore, one of a variety of supernatural beings endowed with the powers of magic and enchantment. Belief in fairies has existed from earliest times, and literatures all over the world have tales of fairies and their relations with humans.
..... Click the link for more information. ; goblin goblin or hobgoblin, in French folklore, small household spirit, similar to the Celtic brownie . Goblins perform household tasks but also can make mischief, such as pulling the covers off sleepers. They like wine and pretty children.
..... Click the link for more information. ; gremlin gremlin, in American folklore, malicious, airborne supernatural being. Gremlins were first heard of during World War II as creatures responsible for unexplainable mechanical failures and disruptions in aircraft.
..... Click the link for more information. ; troll troll (trōl), in Scandinavian folklore, dwarfish or gigantic creature of caves and hills.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See S. Thompson, The Folktale (1946); V. O. Binner, American Folktales (1966) and International Folktales (1967); R. M. Dorson, America in Legend (1974); H. Courlander, A Treasury of African Folklore (1975), A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore (1976), and The Tiger's Whisker and Other Tales from Asia and the Pacific (1995); A. Clarkson and G. B. Cross, World Folktales (1984).

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Bibliography

folktale